POLO PERKS <3 <3 <3, AyooLii, and FearDorian. Photo by Peter Gonzalez.
The FADER’s 2024 Songs of the Summer bracket is divided into four March Madness-style regionals, and the winner of the Touch Grass was “RAINBOW” by Polo Perks, AyooLii, and FearDorian. Below, Raphael Helfand casts his vote for the improbable lowend smash.
Listen to the Touch Grass episode of The FADER’s Songs of the Summer series wherever you get your podcasts, or embedded below.
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Picking just one song of the summer from A Dog’s Chance, the collaborative debut from Polo Perks, Ayoolii, and FearDorian, wasn’t easy. Its jubilant lead single, “Ricky Eats Acid,” was a strong contender, building on a breezy sample and feel-good linkup story. The high-octane “PaperPlanesSoulja,” the best use of The Clash’s “Straight to Hell” since M.I.A.’s 2008 megahit, was hot on its heels. Even “Rockband Tees 08 Denims” — an unlikely spin on Current Joys’ latter-day post-punk cult classic “New Flesh” — made a strong case for itself.
Ultimately, though, what’s more summery than turning Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s ukulele-backed rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” into a no-holds-barred Milwaukee banger?
In any lesser hands than FearDorian’s, “Rainbow” would have been instantly insufferable. Sampling something as played out as Braddah IZ’s Wizard of Oz cover is like working with fluoroantimonic acid in the lab — such a dangerous endeavor that even the fearless Dorian refused to do it at first. “It was one of those beats that gave him an aneurysm to make,” Polo told me when we spoke after the album’s release. “I had to be over his shoulder, like, ‘You’re not leaving the room.’”
Despite his initial hesitation, Dorian left the room with a beat that lit a fire under his collaborators. Punctuating IZ’s well-worn oohing with insistent lowend handclaps, he set the stage for a classically stoned Polo hook — “Two hoes and they both look like Nia Long / Me and AyooLii get along just like Cheech and Chong” — and the entrance of a booming 808 kick cues a chaotically silly verse from Lii (“Man, I love bitches, Susan B. Anthony / AyooLii for women’s rights, I be servin’ fashion”).
Summer is the season of untethering yourself from your screens and your hangups, getting outside, and touching grass. Look skyward to Polo, Lii, and Dorian’s “Rainbow,” release your inhibitions, and feel the rain on your skin.
